Hair clip



March 1963 c. w. RENSTROM ETAL 3,

HAIR CLIP Filed Sept. 21, 1961 FIG, 3 F165.

INVENTORS BY H ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,082,773 HAIR CLIP Carl W. Renstrom and Robert Clarke Sherwin, Omaha, Nebn, assignors to Tip-Top Products Company, Omaha, Nehru, a corporation of Nebraska Filed Sept. 21, 1961, Ser. No. 139,750 2 Claims. (Cl. 13248) This invention relates to improvements in clips and more particularly in clips of the sort useful for holding pin curls.

Pin curls are generally made by curling a small lock of moist hair into a helix or coil and then pinning the curls to hold them in place. until the hair has dried. In the past the well known type of hairpins have been used for holding the curls and more recently a number of spring type clips have been developed for this purpose. The spring type clips are preferred because they are less damaging to the hair and are more secure. Many of these are formed of two pieces of metal, which are springbiased toward each other, but such clips are generally expensive to manufacture by comparison to ordinary hairpins. In addition, such pins are difficult to manipulate in use and quite bulky.

Another type of clip has been developed which is made from a sheet metal stamping as illustrated by U.S. Patent 2,795,233, but in this device parts of the stamping must be secured together by separate fastening means, resulting in an expensive assembly step in manufacture which increases cost.

Accordingly, it is 21 object of this invention to provide a clip which is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to operate and insert in the hair, and which can be made from a one-piece stamping without subsequent assembly operations.

A further object is to provide a clip which has a pin member for insertion in a curl of hair and a snapping member integral therewith, which snaps against the pin member to hold the hair in place.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a one-piece hair clip having a concave-convex snapping member with a pair of elongated legs of flexible sheet material in generally co-planar and parallel relationship and means for pinning the ends of said legs and an elongated pin member secured to one of the leg-joining means. The pin extends generally parallel to and preferably between the legs toward the other leg-joining means. The legs which are formed from sheet material have serrations which give them a concave-convex shape and a snapping action between two opposite concave-convex open and closed positions. In the open position, there is a space between the legs and the pin member into which hair is inserted and when the legs are snapped into the closed position they move close to the pin, and press the hair against the pin to hold it in place.

The invention may be more fully understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment and by reference to the drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the clip of this invention in use for securing a pin curl;

FIGURES 2-7 show in plan the several steps in manufacturing the clip; and

FIGURE 8 is a plan view of the clip.

The clip, as shown in FIGURES l and 8 comprises a concave-convex outer snapping member 1 and an inner pin member 2 each integral with an end strip portion 3. The snapping member 1 and the pin member 2 are generally V shaped having legs 4 and 5, and 6 and 7 respectively, joined at the tips 8 and 9, and the ends of the legs are integral with the end strip portion 3. The outer snapping member 2 has a serrated upper face 10, with the serrations 11 running across the face from the laterally ice inner edge toward but not to the laterally outer edge as shown in FIGURE 7, andthese serrations provide a snapping action from one concave-convex or close-d position to another 'c'oncavo-convex or open psitin. At the tip 8 the snapping member is rounded on its laterally outer and inner edges.

The inner pin member 3 is bent upwardly and away from the end strip portion at their joining points 12 and 13 and the legs 6 and 7 0f the pin member are also bent in an opposite direction at 14 and 15 near joining points 12 and 13, so that the distal end portion 16 of the pin lies generally parallel to the outer snapping member and faces its serrated upper face. The pin member 2 is positioned with respect to the snapping member 1 so that there is a space between them. The distal end portion of the pin member is also curved away from the outer snapping member in its open position, as seen in FIGURE 1, to increase the size of the intermediate space between them when the snapping member is in its open position but the two are adjacent each other in the closed position to hold hair between them. In the closed position, the curvature of the two members are similar and they generally conform to the wearers head for neatness. At the tip of the pin member, there is a small enlargement or ball 17 in the surface remote from the snapping member and a corresponding depression in the opposite surface, made by a punch, which facilitates insertion of the pin into curls and also acts as a stop to prevent the pin from passing through the central opening in the snapping member.

In this description the terms co-planar and parallel have been used to describe the structural relationship between the legs of the snapping member and between them and the pin member. It will be apparent that these terms are not used in their strict sense but only to describe the structural relationship which will otherwise be apparent from the description and the drawing.

The use of the clip is shown in FIGURE 1. The clip is opened and the pin member is inserted into the center of a small coil of hair. The outer snapping member is moved to its closed position as shown by the arrow in FIGURE 1 and it snaps against the hair which is held between the snapping member 2 and pin member 3.

The manufacture of this clip is illustrated in FIGURES 27. A flat blank is first cut from a sheet of metal as shown in FIGURE 2 and then the ball 17 is formed by a punch, as indicated generally in FIGURE 3. The bends in the pin member at 12, 13, 14 and 15 are made and the pin is given a curvature by conventional sheet metal working techniques as illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 6. Serrations 11 are formed on the upper surface of legs 4 and 5 to give it a snapping action.

The hair clip is simple to manufacture and can be made from sheet metal at low cost. There is no need to assem. ble individual parts or to weld or otherwise hold together separate parts of the clip. The clip has a simple positive snapping action from open to close position which makes it easy to manipulate in the hair and the ball member at the end of the pin serves the dual purpose of facilitating the insertion of the end of the pin in the hair and preventing the pin member from passing through the snapping member which would cause difiiculty in reopening the clip.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention is described it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and mode of operation without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

We claim:

1. A one-piece hair clip comprising a concave-convex snapping member having a pair of generally planar elongated legs of flexible sheet material in generally co-planar and parallel relationship and means integral with said legs joining the respective ends of said legs,

and an elongated pin member integral with one of said leg joining means,

each of said legs having serrations impressed in at least 5 one face extending a portion of the distance across said face which expand the metal and constrain it to its concave-convex shape,

whereby the snapping member is angled transversely and movable between opened and closed concavo- 1O convex positions, the pin member being reversely curved from the snapping member in its open position, for insertion of hair and the like between the pin member and the snapping member, and the pin member being substantially parallel to the snapping 15 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brewington Apr. 5, 1898 Haessler May 3, 1938 Eicher May 21, 1940 Soergel July 12, 1949 Zore June 11, 1957 

1. A ONE-PIECE HAIR CLIP COMPRISING A CONCAVO-CONVEX SNAPPING MEMBER HAVING A PAIR OF GENERALLY PLANAR ELONGATED LEGS OF FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL IN GENERALLY CO-PLANAR AND PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP AND MEANS INTEGRAL WITH SAID LEGS JOINING THE RESPECTIVE ENDS OF SAID LEGS, AND AN ELONGATED PIN MEMBER INTEGRAL WITH ONE OF SAID LEG JOINING MEANS, EACH OF SAID LEGS HAVING SERRATIONS IMPRESSED IN AT LEAST ONE FACE EXTENDING A PORTION OF THE DISTANCE ACROSS SAID FACE WHICH EXPAND THE METAL AND CONSTRAIN IT TO ITS CONCAVO-CONVEX SHAPE, WHEREBY THE SNAPPING MEMBER IS ANGLED TRANSVERSELY AND MOVABLE BETWEEN OPENED AND CLOSED CONCAVOCONVEX POSITIONS, THE PIN MEMBER BEING REVERSELY CURVED FROM THE SNAPPING MEMBER IN ITS OPEN POSITION, FOR INSERTION OF HAIR AND THE LIKE BETWEEN THE PIN MEMBER AND THE SNAPPING MEMBER, AND THE PIN MEMBER BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE SNAPPING MEMBER IN ITS CLOSED POSITION FOR COMPRESSING HAIR AND THE LIKE THEREBETWEEN. 